Warring Kingdoms
by Anonymous Wulf
Summary: In an alternate universe where Ionia was ruled by Demacia. Ionia has claimed its independence, but is struggling to retain it. It is up to Ionia's guardians and small army to defend the island from the bloodthirsty warlords from Demacia. The most loyal of the guardians is finding it difficult to stand for what she believes, but is willing to fight till the end.
1. Chapter 1: Annie

Rain hit the cobblestone streets making the sound of beads falling onto a floor. A single cart being carried by exhausted horses, was slowly making its way to the only building in a small town with light coming from it. There, a hooded figure stood outside awaiting the cart. The driver stopped the horses in front of him and quickly got down. He knocked thrice on the carts door and it opened revealing one more cloaked figure and a small girl with dark black hair. The cloaked figure gently helped the girl off of the cart and escorted her within the building.

Outside, the figure that was at the building directed the driver to the stables and asked him:

"Were you followed?"

"I made sure that we weren't," he said as he headed to the stables with the horses and cart.

The cloaked figure looked around before slamming the door shut.

Meanwhile, on a rooftop stood a masked mystery, with long hair, dressed in red and white. Kama blades dropped from her sleeves into her hands. The person brought up the curved blade in front of her and examined it through her mask. Satisfied, she descended onto the ground and made her way to the house where the girl had entered.

Inside, the little girl was escorted downstairs into a room with a bed and wardrobe with a mirror. In the middle of the room stood an unhooded young man with light brown hair and green eyes. The hooded figure pushed the girl into the room and closed the door. The little girl clutched her panda doll into her red clothes looking warily at the man in the middle of the room. The man knelt down on one knee in front of the girl.

"Hi there little empress," he said "What's your name?"

"Annie," the little girl whispered looking down.

"Thats a great name," The man said "My name is Yi and I'm here to make sure that you stay safe and well. Is that your panda doll?"

"Mhmm," the little girl nodded with a smile.

"Does he have a name?" Yi asked.

"His name is Tibbers," she said holding up the doll "Mama gave him to me, she said that if I was ever in trouble he would protect me."

"Well tell Tibbers that he is a beautiful panda," Yi told her.

"No, I can't tell him that," Annie said.

"No?" Yi asked with an over the top surprised face "Why not?"

Annie stood up on her toes and whispered in Yi's ear "He's a boy panda."

Yi gave a small chuckle "Well then tell him he's very handsome,"

"Ok," She said with a yawn.

"Do you want to go to bed?"

Annie gave a small nod.

In the house near the fireplace three figures in cloaks had most of their hoods down and were discussing security.

"Look" said a man with long brown hair tied up "I can take this floor, I'll be of much better use if I have some space to move around in if someone comes."

"Alright" said the only girl in the room, she had long black hair and a scar from her left eyebrow going down to her left cheekbone "We'll patrol the upstairs area then, right Talon?"

Talon, the only one with a hood on, nodded and dropped his cloak only to reveal a smaller dark blue cloak with spikes at the bottom, the girl dropped her cloak to reveal a white shirt with red trim and black pants with a gold trim, the man with long hair dropped his cloak to reveal skimpier clothing: pieces of steel armor with loose dark pants and light blue cloth around his neck that covered most of his upper body. They separated to stand watch.

Outside the masked person was crawling along the roof, except this time, a much more bulkier figure also dressed in red with a mask was accompanying the first figure. They made their way to the windows and peered through waiting for any kind of movement with weapons drawn.

Inside, Talon and the girl made their way upstairs and separated into the hallway going around the rooms. The girl drew her twin swords and checked all her daggers around her body. Talon swung his arm down and a blade came out about his arm length. For the first few moments they were slightly paranoid moving at every shadow movement and jumping at the lightning. They relaxed a bit after a moment. Talon was walking by a window and saw something shine on the floor. He naively picked it up, it was a copper coin. Suddenly lightning flashed through the sky and out of the corner of his eye he saw a terrifying mask with the color red. He turned quickly, but nothing was there except a tree branch. He turned to continue patrolling and on the other side of the hall was an open window.

"Kat!" he yelled as he turned around to get down stairs. He bumped right into a man much bigger and even a bit taller than he was. Before he could say or do anything else the man swung his leg at Talon and knocked him off of his feet. Quicker than he should have, the man wrapped an arm around Talon, holding his arms in, and the other around his neck. He began to tighten his grip like an anaconda thats about to eat its prey. Talon was beginning to see dark spots in his vision when he was suddenly let go. The man got up and turned around quickly, pulling out his dual katanas, to see Kat charging at him with her two (slightly curved) swords. The man prepared to strike when she suddenly appeared behind him and threw her legs around his neck and twisted to the side using the force and momentum to drop him to the ground. Once down they heard the man downstairs shout something. Talon grabbed the katanas and they both ran downstairs leaving the bigger man upstairs. Once down they saw a much slimmer figure about Kat's height dueling the man downstairs while he fought with his katana. She was skillfully dodging all of his attacks and leaving cuts all over his body. She eventually disarmed him and had him in a lock on the floor when Kat threw one of her daggers. Sensing it, the slimmer figure let him go and flipped backwards.

She stood directly in front of the fireplace looking at all her opponents. Talon dashed to her with his blade aimed for her neck she was able to hook his blade and throw him down. The other man grabbed his katana, but before he could do anything she jumped on his back and used her force of jumping to kick him to the wall. She landed a few feet away from the door, but Kat stood in her way with a cocky smile on her face. The slim figure, underestimating Kat, charged her normally. She tried to hook her blades and disarm her the same way she did to the man with the katana, but Kat managed to slide her Kama to the ground and kick the figure in the face. The mask flew off revealing a young lady. Angry, she did a much more aggressive move of trying to slice at Kats head. She dropped her blades and grabbed the woman's arm to flip her and slam her to the ground. Even though she hit the ground hard she immediately threw herself up, but not without losing her Kama. She made the decision to run and Kat made the decision to chase.

"Kat! Retreat!" yelled the man with the katana. She ignored him and continued her chase using the side of the home to jump next to her. They engaged in a bit of hand to hand combat before the woman was able to grab Kat and roll backwards placing her feet on Kats stomach and kicking her away. Kat rolled and slid on the ground until she bumped into something. Looking up she saw the mask and two katanas pointed straight at her. She rolled out of the way as he jabbed them downward. As the blades were in the ground she got up and jump kicked his mask. As it came off the man put his hands on his face to cover it up and immediately began to run. Before she could chase him down she felt a strong and sharp sting in her neck. She yelled in agony and crumpled to the ground. She felt unconsciousness begin to wash over her as she saw long and slim legs in high heels walked away from her.


	2. Chapter 2: Disagreements

(Katarina)

I awoke in a cold sweat and instantly tried to sit up. I immediately felt someone push me down and say:

"Whoa, careful."

Everything was hazy and my head felt like someone was pounding my temples. I looked over to the side and saw a familiar soft face.

"Hey Yi," I said closing my eyes and leaning back. I rubbed my head and turned over on my mat.

"Don't get too comfy," Yi said "We're leaving the moment her majesty is ready."

Yi got up and walked to the door.

"Yasuo wants to talk to you immediately when you get up," Yi said with a sigh "It doesn't look good."

I sat up at hearing those words and stared at him as he hung his head at the door.

"Is he seriously going to threaten taking me off the team?" I asked "Again?"

"Its not something to be taken lightly Kat,"Yi replied "You never listen to Yasuo and he's been assigned our leader."

"We promised each other that no matter who the council appointed as the leader we were always going to be equals." I snapped back.

"It's not just that Kat," Yi explained "You don't listen to any of us. We are suppose to be a team but you always go off on your own and one day it's going to get you hurt. Even more than

last night…"

"I don't need to be protected," I said picking myself up "I can handle myself."

Angrily, I walked past him, shoving him to the side. I marched downstairs to see what our beloved "leader" had to say to me. It's not like I was the reason Annie didn't get attacked or we weren't killed. I always get so frustrated whenever anyone suggests that I need to have more protection or lighter measurements of strength. I had been taking care of myself ever since birth and I was twice as loyal than anyone else in the continent. Being a girl I always saw some people trying to give me some kind of charity, but I was sick of it. I thought training to be a guardian would change how people saw me. Obviously not.

I got to the bottom floor where I saw Yasuo and Talon drinking tea around the table with their heads lowered. At the sound of my footsteps Talon looked up at me with a small smile, but then looked at Yasuo again, who had his eyes closed as he drank, and lowered his head again. I plopped down on the side of the table next to Talon and across from Yasuo. I got a cup and went to serve myself tea at the same time. Unfortunately, the pot was heavier than I thought and I began to spill a bit of it.

"Even in pouring tea one requires a certain patience," said Yasuo with his eyes still closed.

"If you have something to say," I said losing what little patience I had left "Then say it."

Yasuo opened his eyes and put his cup down. "What you did last night was irrational and outright undisciplined," he said.

"Oh please," I said "a little more time and a little more help from some people and we would have captured the attackers."

"Our mission was not to catch perpetrators, but to protect the empress," Yasuo replied raising his voice.

"That's what I did," I snarled at him.

"Oh really?" he said sarcastically "Then explain to me where you were when a spider woman was inches away from devouring her."

I held my tongue, taken aback by the question.

"What spider woman?" I asked

"Last night," Talon explained "While we were dealing with the big man and woman with the masks another person with a mask dug their way into her room. She was a giant spider and she quickly smashed Yi into the wall and bit his neck. When we got their she was inches away from a screaming Annie covered in a silky web, except when we got there she had turned into a tall and slender woman also wearing a red mask and dressed in much more revealing red."

I was stunned. Mostly because I had never heard of a spider woman before, but also because I had almost failed. Still, my pride held on.

"Well someone has to make sure you stay alive," I said drinking my tea.

"Its not about what you did Katarina!" Yasuo yelled. He only ever said my full name when he was sick of me."You always disobey all of us and get yourself in positions where we have to cover for you and that stunt last night was the last straw. I am turning in papers to remove you as soon as we get back."

This time I slammed my cup down on the saucer. "Yeah? What ever happened to us never being like other teams and having to be ruled by a tyrant leader."

"We also promised we would always follow each others lead" he said "You're never around long enough to even hear what the rest of has to say!" he yelled.

I got up and prepared to yell at him some more when the door leading downstairs creaked open revealing a twelve year old girl dressed in dark red with gold trim with her treasured panda bear doll. She stayed at the doorway with a scared look on her face looking at me. Luckily, Yi got downstairs in time to see Annie about to cry. He rushed over to her and kneeled in front of her trying to comfort her.

"Shes ready to get home," said Yi while giving her a hug.

"Lets ride then," said Yasuo whilst getting up.

"Ill drive," I said heading outside. Anything to avoid my team on the ride back.


	3. Chapter 3: Navio

(Katarina)

On the ride back I took my place in the front holding onto the reins. Yi wanted to ride next to me, but Annie wanted him in the carriage with her, and Yasuo didn't want to sit next to me either. At around noon the carriage door opened while we were still traveling and Talon climbed his way over to the seat next to mine. I had known Talon the longest. We grew up together after he tried to steal from my parents. When he got caught instead of turning him in my parents adopted him. We both decided to become guardians because we wanted to prove something. He wanted to prove that shouldn't just dismiss people on the streets because they are just underprivileged.

"Jeez I can't stand the tension in there," he said as he plopped down.

"Yeah?" I asked "What's going on?"

"Yi tried to ask for another chance, but Yas is just being stubborn," Talon said.

"Stubborn? or a tyrant?" I asked dismissively.

"Trust me I know," he said "Ever since he was chosen he's been a little… off"

"You noticed it too huh?"

Talon took off his hood and turned a bit to face me like he always does when he needs to tell me something I won't like hearing.

"You're not helping the situation Kat," he began "He is as right as you are we almost lost Yi and Annie yesterday-"

"What do you mean we almost lost Yi?" I asked looking him straight in the eye.

"Well the spider," he said bluntly "Did you not think she had poison?"

"What kind of poison?"

"Enough for Yas to use all of our antidotes on him," Talon said "After that he went around town banging on doors and pleading for medicine for you."

"Yasuo?" I asked

"No," he said "Yi did. Once he got all he needed, he stayed up all night nursing you."

I found it hard to swallow the news. It was always surprising to hear all that Yi did for me. I use to think that he just wanted to be a good friend, but when we entered as guardians he began trying to get closer to me.

"Have you made up your mind about him yet?" Talon asked.

"No," I said defiantly.

"Too bad. He seems to view you as some sort of goddess that he must please," he gave me a stupid smile.

"Shut up," I said nudging him.

"Well its true," he said "and besides its entertaining to see you struggle with your emotions."

"Just remember which one of us has more experience on the battlefield,"

"Thats right you are old," he said with another smile.

"I will kill you," I said

"You'd have to catch me first"

I would have argued more if the grand wall surrounding our nation's capitol had not appeared up ahead. I urged the horses to go faster eager to get back and be over with our first mission. We arrived at the city gates at around noon where we received a big welcome from the city guards.

"Welcome back to Navio," they said.


	4. Chapter 4: Betrayl

(Katarina)

"Momma!" Annie yelled as we walked her into the castle garden. Empress Ahri was teaching a few girls about how to become good wives and be very attractive to men. However, the moment she heard her daughter she immediately turned and gave her daughter a hug.

"Oh hello Annie," she told her mid hug "How was your trip to the mountains?"

"It was kinda boring," Annie said "The monks are really old and there was no one to play with, but I did learn a lot"

"Thats good," Ahri said "Go into the family room and tell your father and I'll be there in just one minute."

"Ok!" exclaimed Annie running into the palace.

As she went in all of Ahri's students got up and began to leave. Then she turned her attention to us. We all bowed our heads to her and waited for her orders.

"How was the ride here?" she asked in a very solemn voice.

"We only ran into one bit of trouble," Yasuo said "A group of people dressed in red wearing red mask attempted to assassinate your daughter."

"How close did they get?" she asked ominously.

"One of them managed to enter her room, Yasuo explained "But I promise you that Annie was never touched by them."

"Report it to Page while I go see if my child is well." Ahri said turning around and walking quickly inside.

We all lifted our heads and looked at each other. Page was in charge of the guardians he was also the lawman in the council. He was a huge stick in the mud, never letting even the smallest of rules able to be bent. Most of the guardians hated him, mainly because he made so many rules, but he had no idea what a guardian really was. The position just gave him more power and money as long as he could maintain it.

We eventually made our way to the building just outside of the castle wall. The building was originally suppose to be Ionia's largest temple, but the guardians needed a base of operations close to the Emperor's Palace so we occupied it. It had my spacy rooms filled with training methods, mentors, and students. What would have been The Great Hall turned into the mess hall with a long table in the middle where people ate. That room expanded into many other hallways that lead to training rooms or up stairs. The second floor had a common room with comfortable furniture and many rooms for the teams of guardians. On the third floor was a single room filled with boxes and boxes of papers and the man who managed all of it. We made our way up to him and opened the door to see him over his desk writing away like he always does.

"Page we're back," said Talon walking right up to him and plopping down into one of the chairs in front of him while I sat in the other and we both set our feet on his desk.

"I can see that thank you," said Page already sounding annoyed. He finally put his quill down and looked up at us. For being the most boring advisor our emperor has he was also the youngest, only slightly older than me. He was also one of the few people in our small country to have pink hair. We often made fun of him for it, but he never really cared about his hair color so we just made fun of how lanky he was until he didn't care about that either.

"How was your mission then?" he asked "I assume it was a success since I don't hear our empress yelling."

"It was successful," said Yasuo "we only ran into one problem."

"Hmm?" asked Page getting some scrolls from behind his desk "And what was it?"

"We were attacked by a group wearing red masks," Yasuo said "They were definitely trained professionals, able to-"

"Red masks you say?" Page asked looking up from his paper.

"Yes," Yasuo confirmed.

Page began opening his drawers and rummaging around. Not finding what he wanted he ran over to the boxes to the side and looking through them until he pulled out five scrolls and brought them to his desk. He opened one and asked:

"Did they wear masks like these?" he held up the scroll revealing a white mask painted with red and had small antlers connected to them.

"Exactly like that," said Yasuo "the woman with kama wore this one."

"You are not the first team to see them," he opened the rest of the scrolls "They call themselves The Blood Moon."

"The Blood Moon?" I said with a half laugh "Like the opposite of The Bleeding Sun?"

The Bleeding Sun was the highest rank of guardians Ionia had they were also the team that had the first female guardian.

"Exactly like that," Page said "Because of this The Lunar Temples have been given a negative view. The Blood Moon is five of the greatest warriors we have ever seen and are not keen on the separation of Ionia from Demacia. They believe that we should not be an independent nation."

"Ionians against Ionia," said Yi picking up a scroll with a very small but simplistically beautiful mask only big enough to cover the upper part of the face.

"Is the one that you saw?" Page asked noticing him.

"Yes she was able to…"

"Transform into a spider," Page joined him.

"Yeah," Yi said.

"Each of them have their own specialties, but this isn't about them its about the trouble you ran with them," Page said "How close did they get to Annie?"

"The spider woman almost poisoned her," Yasuo said "After Katarina decided to go and chase them."

I dropped my feet from the desk and gave him a death stare.

"Another disciplinary action for Katarina... " he said as he wrote it down.

"Don't forget to write down that i'm also the reason we even came out alive," I murmured

"Yes, by chasing after two assassins while the empress was downstairs about to be killed." Yasuo began to raise his voice.

"After you were about to get killed!"

"I didn't need to be protected!'

"You think I do!"

"No, I think you need to stop believing that you're some higher authority and start following orders!"

"You're not my leader!"

"Enough!" yelled Page slamming his hands on the table and standing up "Everyone outside, except Katarina."

Yasuo almost immediately turned to walk away while the others lingered for a bit before following him. As much as we hated Page if we directly disobeyed his order then we could be jailed. After they left, Page plopped down and brought out a small box from under his desk filled about halfway with papers. He looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked

"Do you know what's in the box?" he asked

"The amount of people in this world that actually like you?"

"Not even that many…" he said in a tired voice "These are all disciplinary reports against you, you have singlehandedly been able to receive the most reports and you've only been a guardian for about a year."  
"So?" I asked "All of these so called leaders just hold me back"

"Katarina," he said with a finality in his voice "You are being suspended as a guardian indefinitely or until you learn what being a part of a team really is."

"What!?" I yelled standing up "I'm the best assassin we have and i'm twice as loyal as any of those dogs out there in the city!"

"Being a guardian involves strength, speed, AND discipline," he said "Unable to follow orders shows a giant lack of discipline and disrespect no matter how great you think you are."

"You don't know anything about what a guardian is," I said.

"Maybe," he said "but I am the law here."

I stared at him with half a mind to kill him. I was absolutely steamed and just yell at him for the sake of yelling at him. I couldn't be suspended and nobody here would say that I was a good teammate. Just then the door opened.

"I told you to wait outside," shouted Page, but it wasn't my teammates that came in. An elderly man with long white beard and majestic robes walked in. It was the emperor's highest advisor: Shojin.

"Shojin!" said Page alarmed "I didn't know you were coming." He immediately got up and bowed next to me as I bowed.

"Arise," he said "Now what seems to be the problem this time."

We both stood up from our bows and Page explained "Katarina is in violation of many accounts on discipline therefor I have had no choice, but to suspend her-"

Shojin raised his hand as if to tell him to stop.

"I was asking Katarina," he said.

Shojin was, although the oldest, the best advisor the emperor had. He only spoke when he had something important to say and he always gave sound advice on everything. He was also incredibly generous and treated every guardian with high respect. All us would've rather had him watch over us.

"It happened like he said," I told him "My teams leader isn't happy with my actions."

"And what do you think?" he asked sincerely.

"I believe that what I did was justified and I saved my team and if i had to do it again I think I would." I said.

Shojin nodded and turned to Page and said "Now, what was the exact incident that happened?"

Page spoke up "Yasuo's team was attacked by the Blood Moon in an attempt to assassinate Annie. Katarina was able to hold them off and then chased after them ignoring the leaders orders to return and protect the young empress."

"Held off The Blood Moon?" Shojin asked with an impressed tone "On her own."

"Shojin," he warned "That is not the point she directly dis-"

Shojin raised his hand to signal silence.

"Katarina," Shojin began "Instead of seeing your dismissal from your former group, The Royal Blade, perhaps you need to see new horizons. How about you lead your own team?"

"What!?" Page freaked out. I was absolutely stunned in silence.

"I know it might seem overwhelming, but we have noticed you," Shojin said "You are definitely one of the greatest warriors we have seen, and you are more than capable of handling yourself, besides there is no better test of teamwork than leading a team."

"B-but Shojin this is not protocol besides team initiations ar-," Page stammered

"Team initiations do not end until The Lunar Revel," Shojin said.

"But thats in a week!" Page exclaimed.

"Do you think you can do it Katarina," Shojin looked at me "Are you willing to try?" I nodded unsure of what just happened.

"Very well," he said "Its settled The Death Lotus shall be headed by Katarina and will be initiated on the Lunar Festival, unless, you'd rather name your group something else?"

"N-no I am honored to be named by you…" I stammered.

With that Shojin left leaving Page and me alone. It took a minute for all of it to sink in, until Page broke the silence by moving over to his desk and pulling out papers and a box. I stayed there for another while. _My own team? _I knew I had the option to, but I wanted to be with my friends now. I guess it was definitely better than being in The Royal Blade I would miss Talon, but following my own initiative would be great. _Wait, isn't it in a week? _I ran straight out of Page's office and ran to go set up a tournament.


End file.
